Burglar-alarm



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. MORAN. BURGLAR ALARM. No. 425,143. Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

Qvitwzooeo avwemcoz Jbn Moran a uomamgo 1 (No Model.) 2 SheetS- She t 2. J. MORAN. BURG LAR ALARM.

No. 425,143. Patent ed Apr. 8, 1890.

6 m 0 0 m a John Zlbmn UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MORAN, OF ADAIR, MISSOURI.

BU RG LAR-ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,143, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed December 5, 1889. Serial No. 332,640. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN MORAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Adair, in the county of Adair and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Electrical Burglar- Alarm, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to electrical. mats designed to announce the presence and location of intruders; and among the obj ccts in view are to simplify and cheapen the construction of the mat, to provide means for electrically disconnecting and connecting the same with the alarm-bell and annunciator,

and to simplify the construction of the annunciator, decreasing the number of parts usually employed, and arranging the same so as to accurately announce the location of the intruder.

WVith these general objects in view the in- Vention consists in certain details of construction hereinafter specified, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a series of mats supposed to be located at different points of a house and beneath the carpets thereof and adjacent to windows or doors, and their electrical connection with the battery, the annunciators, and the alarm-bell. Fig. 2 is a perspective of the mat, Fig. 3 a substantially central transverse section, and Fig. 4 a substantially central lon gitudinal section, of the same. Fig. 5 is a detail in vertical section of the switch-box.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 represents the annunciator, the front wall of which is provided with one or a series of inspection-openings, agreeing in number with the number of mats employed, and in a like manner is the mechanism immediately hereinafter described duplicated.

2 represents an electric magnet secured by a bracket 3 to the wall of the annunciator, and under the same there is located an ordinary armature 4c.

5 represents a beIl-crank-shaped switchlever pivoted, as at 6, to the aununciator, and having its lower branch or terminal taking under the armature and its upper branch terminating in a weighted. disk .7, bearin g a figure or other character indicative of the room or compartment in which the mat with which it is electrically connected is located, said disk when the armature is in connection with the opposite poles of the electric magnet serving to overbalance the foot or lower branch of the switch-lever and swing the switch-lever to one side, so as to bring its indicative character opposite one of the inspection-openings of the annunciator.

3 represents a conducting-bar, of suitable metal, secured to the wall of an annunciator and spaced from the same by a series of shoulders 9 upon its outer face and arranged over the upper branch of the switch-lever. The bar may be of any length, in accordance with the number of magnets, brushes, and mats employed, and is provided with as many contact-shoulders as there are switch-levers, said shouldershaving contact with the brushes when the same are tilted in a manner caused by a completion of the electrical circuit and an elevation of the armature, as previously described. A facing 10, of non-conducting material, is mounted upon the switch-levers, so as to prevent electrical connection with any portion of the conducting-bar, except at the contact-shoulders.

11 represent stops, one of which is located in line with and below the shoulder and the other of which is located below the foot of the switch-lever and limits its movement in areverse direction.

12 represents the alarm-bell of any ordinary construction, which by a section 13 of the positive terminal of the electrical con doctor is connected to the conducting-bar 3.

14 represents an ordinary battery electrically connected by a section of wire 13 with a conducting-bar 15, which is electrically connected with the magnets of the series.

10 represents the switch-box, a branch 13 of the positive conductor connecting the same with. the bell or alarm, said. branch terminating in the switch-box in a contact-point 17.

13 represents the mats,of which there may be any number, and each of them by a negative conductor 13" is connected to its respective magnet, and the entire series of mats is electrically connected with the main branch of the positive terminal. 13 bya series of short branches 1!), one of the terminals of the main branch being connected with a mat and the opposite terminal with one of the poles of the battery.

5 A short branch 13 connects the positive pole of the battery with the switch-box and terminates in a contact-point 20 at the opposite side of and below the contact-point 17 of the negative point of the terminal, and be- :0 tween the two points there is mounted in the box a transverse shaft 21, carrying a contactplate 22 and terminating in a handle 23 out side of the box, whereby it is apparent that by turning the plate in one direction one 15 edge of the contact-plate makes contact with the contact-point 17 and the opposite edge of the plate with the opposite contact-plate 20, thus completing the electrical circuit so far as the switch isconcerned and rendering 20 the entire device ready for operation, the circuit to be further completed by the weight of a person upon any one of the mats.

Iwill now proceed to describe the form of mat employed. I

22 represents the floor, or it may be any suitable base to which the mats hereinafter described are securedas, for instance, a base of papier-mach, light wood,felt, or other material; but I prefer to secure the mat directly 0 to the floor, as it enables the same to lie closer thereto and not form a material protrusion and result in a wear of the carpet at that point. In constructing the mat I form two rectangular or other shaped frames 28 and 2%.

3 5 The frame 23 is composed of four longitudinal strips 25, either of brass, tin, or other electrical conducting metal, and the same are connected at their ends by cross-strips 26. The frame thus formed is by a series of sta- 4o ples or othersecuring devices 27 securely connected with the floor. The opposite frame 24 comprises a pair of longitudinal side strips 28, connected at their ends by a transverse strip 29, the side strips 28 occurring opposite the 5 Spaces between the strips 25 of the opposite frame 23, and said strips 28 are provided throughout their length with a series of slightly-curved wire contaet-arms 29*, arched over or straddling the strips 25 of the lower frame and secured at their middle to the longitudinal strips 28 of the upper frame and by their curvature serving to normally maintain the upper frame out of contact with the lower frame. The ends of the wires are up- 5 5 wardly curved or bent, as at 30, to facilitate their sliding over the floor without injury to the same when they are compressed by the weight of a person thereon, and the strength of the wires, or rather their rigidity, is sufficicnt to support the frame out of contact with any weight under forty or fifty pounds, so that the weight of a cat or other domestic animal treading thereon would not serve to compress the upper frame.

31 represents opposite insulating tapes or straps, the lower ends of which are connected by the staples 27 to the floor and the upper ends of which are rigidly or otherwise socured, as at 32, to the cross-bars 29 of the upper frame. The negative wire, or it may be the positive wire, of the circuit is connected to the upper frame and the opposite wire to the lower frame, so that by compressing the upper section or frame of the mat upon the lower the circuit is complete, provided the switch-box has been first set so as to complete the alarm-circuit.

Depending from the lower terminal of each of the switch-levers 5 is a cord 83, the lower end of which extends down through suitable openings in the case and are provided with ordinary pulls. By these cords it is apparent that the contact of a brush with an electro-magnet may be broken, and the current being thus interri'lpted the sounding of the alarm will cease and the indicating-disk be drawn from registry with its opening in the case.

As before stated, 13 indicates the positive terminal, which is connected electrically to the switch-box 1G and to the positive pole of the battery 14, and then passes near the mats, and opposite each is tapped and connected to the bottom frames thereof by short branch wires 19, the line ending with the last mat of the series. To the upper mat-frames, which are normally maintained out of contact with the lower matframes by the springs 29*, is electrically connected short-circuit wires 18*, the opposite ends of which are connected to the coils of the magnets 2, each of which coils are in electrical connection with the conducting-bar 15, electrically connected with the negative pole of the battery. This completes the main circuit. \Vhen, however, the circuit is closed between the wires 13 and 18* by contact of the upper and lower frames of the mats, the energization of the magnets serves to attract the armature of that m agnetaifected, and thus raise the lower end of the switchlever, and the electric current passes through the same and the contact-shoulder 9 to the conducting-bar 8, which is electrically con nected with the bell mechanism and causes the hammer to vibrate. By this tiltingof the switch-levers the main circuit is broken and the local circuit completed.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In an annunciator, the combination, with an electro-magnet and its armature, of a bellcrank-shaped lever having its lower branch terminating under and actuated by the armature and its upper end weighted, and a conducting-bar arranged adjacent to the brush and adapted for contact with the same when the armature is attracted and the lever is actuated. by the weight, substantially as specified.

2. In an annunciator, a casing having an inspection-opening, in combination with a magnet mounted in the casing, an armature mounted under the magnet, and a pivoted bellcrank-shaped lever having its lower branch taking under the armature and provided at its upper end with an indicating weighted disk adapted for contact with a conducting-bar, substantially as specified.

3. In an annunciator, a box. or case having an opening, in combination with an electric magnet, a bell-crank-shaped switclrlever, an armature for the magnet, supported by the switch-lever, and a weighted disk mounted at the upper end of the switch-lever and adapted to actuate the switch-lever, so as to be thrown opposite the opening in the case, and a conducting-bar having shoulders against which the switch-lever is adapted to take when i11- fluenced by the weight,-and electrical connections for the bar and magnets, substantially as specified.

4. In an annunciator, the combination, with a case having an opening and an electro-magnet mounted in the casing, of a switch-lever pivoted in the casing at one side of its center, an armature arranged out of contact and between the poles of the magnet and serving to normally depress the short end of the lever and maintain the long end away from the opening, an electric circuit the terminals of which are connected to-the magnet, and means for normally breakingsaid circuit, but adapted to be operated to complete the same, thus attractin g and raising the armature and releasing the lever, so that the same may fall to bring its longest end opposite the opening, substantially as specified.

5. A11 alarm-mat consisting of an upper and lower frame, the lower frame being secured to a base and the upper frame provided with a series of springs normally supporting the same above and out of contact with the lower frame, and opposite tapes of non-conducting material for maintaining the upper frame in position, the ends of the tapes being connected to the two frames, substantially as specified.

6. An electrical mat comprising two rectangular sections or frames, the lower one consisting of opposite pairs of longitudinal strips connected at their ends by transverse strips and the upper frame consisting of opposite longitudinal strips connected by transverse strips, the longitudinal strips being provided with a series of laterallydisposed curved spring-arms straddling the longitudinal strips of the lower frame and supporting the upper frame out of contact therewith, substantially as specified.

7. The combination, with the base, of the frame 23, comprising the opposite pairs of longitudinal strips 25 and the connecting end strips 26, both of which are connected to the base by staples 27, and the upper frame 24, comprising the longitudinal strip 28, occurring opposite the longitudinal strips 25 and connected by the cross-strips 29, the spring-arms 29*, having their ends upwardly curved, as at 30, and the tapes 31, connecting the end strips of the frame 24 with the base, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. JOHN ORAN.

\Vitnesses:

WILLIAM T. PORTER, BEN FRANKLIN. 

